


The Aftershock

by Baby_blwe



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Paranoia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Weirdmageddon, Teenage Dipper Pines, Teenage Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines, Teenage Mabel Pines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27297811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baby_blwe/pseuds/Baby_blwe
Summary: Dipper and Mabel return home only to find that while they have changed, their town has not.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	The Aftershock

**Author's Note:**

> Creating a new fic when I haven't updated the one everyone wants? Couldn't be me.
> 
> But seriously, I'm very sorry for not updating "Control over Him" I haven't been in the best mental state to write angst.

Two adults, a man and a woman, stood shoulder to shoulder. They were both very excited for today. Today their children would get home from their 3 month long vacation. The woman bounced lightly on her heels. She studied every bus that pulled into the station, trying to discern if it was the one that held her son and daughter. After twenty minutes of waiting the bus she had been looking for arrived. 

A broken down bus pulls into a much cleaner station. Most people either ignored it or looked down their noses at the rusted and faded exterior, except two people. The man and woman ran over to the bus as the doors opened. Stood in the clearing smoke were two kids, their children, Dipper and Mabel. 

And a pig?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dipper looked out the window as his sister bounced beside him. Glancing at Mabel with a smile, he put his hand on her shoulder to anchor her to the seat. Mabel shot him a quick playful pout before leaning down to gather Waddles, her pig, into her arms. As the weight of the animal settled in her lap she finally calmed down enough to breath for a second and take in the surrounding bus. The seats were faded and cracked, the advertisements were at least 10 years out of date, and the entire thing rattled like it was about to break down. Laughing quietly at her last though Mabel turned to her brother to share the joke, only to find him staring at her with a sad look in his eye. Her mirth quickly turned to concern as she searched her mind for what could be wrong. 

Dipper didn’t look away from Mabel as she stopped bouncing, it was strange to think they were going home. They had changed so much. And now? They were just going to back the same mediocre life? Was that even possible at this point? Dipper shook his head to try and dispers the thought. Mabel looked over with a smile before her face dropped, concern clouded her eyes. With the smallest tilt of her head he knew what she was asking, ‘are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?’. The side of his mouth gave a small, barely there, twitch of a smile before letting it fall again. He gave her an equally small shake of his head, ‘thank you, but no, he didn’t want to talk about it’. 

The twins had realized that after everything they had been through together they didn’t truly need to speak to know what the other was thinking. While this was helpful in the heat of battle, when shouting out a plan could get them killed, most of the time it just made the people around them confused.

Mabel didn’t seem to accept his answer though. She frowned, glanced at the sky behind him, then tilted her head a fraction of an inch more. ‘I’m not letting this go. Can we talk about it later if you don't want to now?’ He smiled softly at her concern, but his thoughts began to spiral slowly once again. He knew that these small gestures shouldn’t hold so much meaning behind them. But even when they were safe, the feeling of battle followed them. How could it not, anytime they were “safe” before, there was another attack just waiting for them. Safety was a lie in their minds, and he didn’t think that would change simply because they were back home. A small nudge jolted him out of his, once again, wandering thoughts. Looking at his sister's concerned face he knew he couldn’t keep this from her. Keeping their thoughts from one another never did them any good in the past. So looking Mabel in the eyes he gave a resigned nod.

Before Mabel could say anything, the bus screeched to a halt. Looking at each other in apprehension they grabbed their stuff and walked to the door. The glass panels opened with a whoosh, the smoke taking a second to clear. Standing in front of the two children were their parents, their mother and father. Mabel threw herself at her mother, making her mother spin them around to stop them from falling. Dipper had a much more controlled reaction however. Walking off the bus, he hugged his father tightly before turning to where his mother had set Mabel down gently. He automatically checked that Mabel was fine before giving his mother a hug as well. Once the group had done their greetings the small family started to walk back to their car. 

Letting herself get ushered into the car Mabel let her thoughts wander. She was so happy to be back. She loved her grunkles with her entire heart, she really did, but nothing would beat her moms hugs. She of course noticed Dipper check in on her after the hug, but Mabel couldn't blame him. It was an automatic thing to scan for injuries when they had re-entered each other's sight. It didn’t matter if she had looked away for 3 seconds, or 3 minutes, anytime she looked back at Dipper she scanned to make sure nothing had happened. After one too many scares of Bill pulling Dipper into his mind for an hour, only to let him out a second of real world time later, Mabel made sure to always be looking for signs of distress or pain on Dipper's face. Logically she knew that they were safe, that they had defeated Bill and the Weirdmageddon was over, but she could never shake that lingering fear that if she looked away for too long Dipper would disappear. 

Mabel jumped when she felt a hand get placed over hers. Glancing over she could see Dipper was looking out the window. Without looking over, Dipper’s hand squeezed hers. She let out an amused huff before turning her hand up so she could squeeze back. Her twin always seemed to know when she was in a bad mood. Glancing out her own window she missed her parents looking at them with concern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shirley turned away from the rearview mirror to look at the road ahead. Most people wouldn’t put much stock into their children holding hands, but she knew her kids. While Mabel was extremely affectionate, Dipper was not. Her son preferred to keep people at arms distance. He would of course let her hug him, and occasionally kiss his forehead, but he was never the person to hold someone's hand. This isn’t what confused her the most though. Sure it was a bit strange, but it could be chalked up to him getting closer with his sister over the summer. No, what confused her was the way he looked at Mabel. And the way Mabel looked at Dipper. They looked at each other like one of them was going to disappear. 

When her kids had first gotten off the bus she didn’t have much time to focus on their expressions, she was too busy saying hello and getting them back to the car. Now that she had time to think back on the moment she realized a few strange things. Dipper seemed strangely protective of Mabel. Not that he wasn’t before they left, Mabel was his little sister after all, but now like that protection had spread. She had very clearly noticed Dipper checking on Mabel once Shirley had put the young girl down. She also noticed that anytime someone took a step toward Mabel, Dipper would move to put himself slightly between his sister and the “threat”. What was even stranger though is Mabel's protectiveness over Dipper. Mabel was usually the one to get pushed around in a fight, her daughter was a pacifist through and through, but that seems to have changed. Mabels changes weren’t as obvious as Dippers though. Mabel was constantly checking on Dipper, but not in a scared way, not in the usual way. When Mabel checked on Dipper she seemed to scan his face for something. What that something is, though, Shirley had no idea. 

Looking back at her kids, Shirley let out a light laugh at the animal resting in Mabel's lap. Even in the midst of her worry she was still shocked that her children had somehow gotten a pig all the way from Oregon to California. The look on her husband's face was hilarious when, before they could corral the kids to the car, he had been knocked over by an excited pig. She hadn’t been too keen on the idea of keeping Waddles, but the look on Mabel's face made her change her mind. Mabel and Waddles had obviously bonded, to rip them apart would destroy them both. In the end she had agreed to let Waddles stay as long as Mabel took care of him and he stayed outside. She didn’t think the last rule was going to be followed, but as long as there was no mess she wouldn’t complain.

Even though Shirley had just been laughing she was still extremely worried. Her smile dropped at the directions her thoughts had gone hit her. She took a deep breath. As in depth her reasoning had gone, she still hoped that she was wrong. She glanced back at the children in the backseat. They were just kids after all, what could have possibly happened?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dipper and Mabel paused in the foyer of the house. It looked the exact same as when they left it. Dipper wasn’t sure why he was so surprised by this. He supposed it just felt wrong that they had changed so much and the house hadn’t. His parents left the room to take his and Mabels' stuff to their rooms, separate rooms. Once upon a time he would have been ecstatic to have his own space now? Well, let just say Mabel and him weren’t to happy when they received the news in the car on the way home 

~

“What?” Dipper breathed out in shock. 

“You’re getting your own rooms” his dad repeated happily, not seeming to notice the horror on Dipper and Mabel's faces. “We cleared out the old guest room so that you both can have some privacy. You guys are getting older and should have some space away from each other.” 

Dipper and Mabel shared a terrified glance. Sure the thought was nice in theory, but both of them still had horrible nightmares after the Weirdmageton. Most nights they could only be comforted by the other, the knowledge that the other was alive and with them. How were they going to do that if they were in separate rooms. 

Mabel tried to speak up, “Dad, I’m perfectly happy sharing with Dipper. I really don’t want my own room.” Her voice started to shake slightly at the end, the thought of being in a room all alone at night scared her. 

Their dad went to speak again, but Dipper cut him off before he could. 

“I agree with Mabel dad, I like sharing a room. It’s nice to have someone to share the responsibility with” Dipper added a sheepish grin at the end of his statement. His mind was racing with ways they could convince their parents to not separate them, as well as plan for if they were still forced to sleep separately.

Their mother looked at them from the front. Her eyes held hesitation at pushing the issue, but that didn’t stop her from telling them it was happening. That they needed privacy and that they couldn’t share anymore. Both kids tried to plead with her for a few more minutes before giving up. Their mom and dad were set on giving them separate rooms.

Dipper let out a huff and sulked against the seat, playing the part of an upset teenager, but Mabel could tell it wasn’t real. Dipper hadn’t sulked in months. No, this was calculated. He was keeping their parents from seeing something was wrong, keeping them in the dark about their fear, all while planning how to get around the new situation.

~

Dipper pulled out of the memory as Mabel nudged his shoulder. Shaking his head, he walked deeper into the house. Looking at the pictures on the walls he was kind of shocked at how much he and Mabel had changed. 

In the pictures that were taken just before the summer, he was still incredibly scrawny and looked like he wished he was anywhere else. Mabel was the same way, skinny and weak, but she looked a lot happier in the picture then she had in awhile. On top of that they didn’t have any scars. The ones on their face were glamored and hidden away, but the ones one the rest of their body were harder to hide. With the runes they had sewn into their clothes, keeping a glamore up was almost impossible. Knowing this, Dipper had taken to wearing some type of jacket at all times. Mabel didn’t have to worry as she still wore her sweaters, though she mostly leaves out the glitter now due to them almost getting killed when someone followed the trail she left right to them.

Yelling from the top floor, their parents called them up to see Dipper's new room. They glanced at each other before slowly going up the stairs, as if taking more time would stop the inevitable. When they reached the top of the stairs they shared a long look before Mabel split off to go into her room, knowing that she would have time to see it later. Dipper continued on to his room. Walking in he looked around. His parents had obviously tried to decorate it in his style. 

They had painted it a nice dark blue, with mostly dark wood furniture. They had also added a big bulletin board with conspiracy theories, as well as monsters and cryptids. Dipper internally cringed at the board, most of those would have to come down. Either they were horribly wrong, or way too upsetting to keep up, but for the time being he just nodded his thanks and went to unpack.

Once his parents had left his room he went up to the papers and ripped them down. Grabbing some of his loose notes from his backpack he pinned up the lesser incriminating ones. Once he had gotten rid of all of the wrong information he took a second to think. Mabel and him were starting highschool in a few weeks and he had so much to do before he would feel comfortable going to a large building with lots of people. He would have to get Mabel to make a few more protection sachets, as well as put runes on any new clothes they got. He would have to start looking up spells that had very few components, he didn’t think bringing unicorn or oger blood to school would go over very well.

He would get started on it tomorrow though, he wouldn't be able to do anything at the moment. Until then he could relax for a second. Although it was midday, Dipper was exhausted. With the thoughts of all the things he would have to do in his head, he drifted off to sleep. Soon he would have to prepare, but for now he could simply be.

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to update this fic every month (as well as change the update schedule to once a month for the other fic too)


End file.
